Method and system for service verification using WiFi signal strength mapping

ABSTRACT

A service management system facilitates and validates service on building management systems. A service workflow module receives device events from control panels of the building management systems and combines them with local service data from mobile computing devices of technicians performing the service, generating service events. The service workflow module receives ambient radiofrequency (RF) signal data detected from the location of serviced devices. A validation module stores the ambient RF signal data and generates and a device fingerprint based on the ambient RF signal data. After device fingerprints based on the ambient RF signal data have been accumulated, the validation module determines whether current service events and ambient RF signal data are coherent with the device fingerprints and previous ambient RF signal data. The service workflow module also infers the location of the technician based on the ambient RF signal data and sends navigation information to the mobile computing device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to:

U.S. application Ser. No. 15/707,135 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Cloud Based Predictive Service Scheduling andEvaluation.” now U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2019-0086877 A1;

U.S. application Ser. No. 15/707,142 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, entitled“Method and System for Service Verification Using Access ControlSystem,” now U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2019-0089703 A1;

U.S. application Ser. No. 15/707,154 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Mapping Devices by Using Posted Maps,” nowU.S. Patent Publication No.: 2019-0087078 A1;

U.S. application Ser. No. 15/707,161 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Verifying Service of installed Devices UsingRFID,” now U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2019-0088109 A1;

and

U.S. application Ser. No. 15/707,167 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Evaluation of Temperature Sensors,” now U.S.Patent Publication No.: 2019-0086881 A1.

All of the afore-mentioned applications are incorporated herein by thisreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Building management systems such as building automation systems, firealarm systems and intrusion systems are often installed within apremises such as commercial, residential, or governmental buildings.Examples of these buildings include offices, hospitals, warehouses,public infrastructure buildings including subways and bus terminals,multi-unit dwellings, schools or universities, shopping malls,government offices, and casinos.

Fire alarm systems typically include fire control panels that functionas system controllers. Fire detection/initiation devices and alarmnotification devices are then installed, distributed throughout thebuildings and connected to the panels. Some examples of firedetection/initiation devices include smoke detectors, carbon monoxidedetectors, flame detectors, temperature sensors, and/or pull stations(also known as manual call points). Some examples of fire notificationdevices include speakers, horns, bells, chimes, light emitting diode(LED) reader boards, and/or flashing lights (e.g., strobes).

The fire detection devices monitor the buildings for indicators of fire.Upon detection of an indicator of fire such as smoke or heat or flames,the distributed device is activated and a signal is sent from theactivated distributed device to the fire control panel. The fire controlpanel then initiates an alarm condition by activating audio and visiblealarms of the fire notification devices of the fire alarm system, whichare also distributed around the building. Additionally, the fire controlpanel will also send an alarm signal to a monitoring station, which willnotify the local fire department or fire brigade.

Intrusion systems typically include intrusion panels and their owndistributed devices. The distributed monitoring devices detectindications of intrusions, building security breaches and unauthorizedaccess at or within the building and report to the intrusion panels.Examples of monitoring devices include motion sensor devices, door andwindow relays, thermal sensors, and surveillance camera devices thatcommunicate with the intrusion panel over a security network. Motionsensor devices can detect intrusions and unauthorized access to thepremises, and send indications of the intrusions to the security panel.The surveillance camera devices capture video data of monitored areaswithin the premises, in examples.

Building automation systems will typically include one or more buildingautomation control panels and distributed devices that control andmonitor the physical plant aspects of a building and aspects ofbusiness-specific electrical, computer, and mechanical systems. Thephysical plant typically includes heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (HVAC) systems, elevators/escalators, lighting and powersystems, refrigeration and coolant systems, and air and/or waterpurification systems, in examples. HVAC systems typically include airhandlers and systems of ducts and vents for circulating air throughoutthe building. Business-specific systems include computer systems,manufacturing systems that include various types of computer-aidedmachinery and test equipment, and inventory control and trackingsystems, in examples.

Building management systems require service, including installation,repair, testing, inspection, and compliance testing. When the systemsare initially installed, the panels are typically located in a securepart of the building. Then, the distributed devices are installedthroughout the building. The panels and the distributed devices mustthen be interconnected. Wired systems are often used. Although, in somecases wireless links are used to provide interconnection. Then later inthe lifecycle, repair may be required. Sensor-type distributed devicescan be damaged. They can also become dirty. Inspection and compliancetesting is also mandatory for many types of building management systems.Fire alarm systems must be tested typically on a yearly basis, forexample.

Recently, it has been proposed to use connected services systems tomonitor fire alarm systems. Connected services systems are remotesystems that communicate with the building management systems and aresometimes administered by separate business entities than the ownersand/or occupants of the buildings, which contain the buildingmanagements systems. For example, the connected services system can beadministered by a building management system manufacturer and/or anentity providing service on the building management systems.

Often during service, the connected services systems communicate withthe control panel of a fire alarm system and mobile computing devicesoperated by on-site technicians. This has allowed the control panels toreport status information, including devices events from distributeddevices connected to the panels, to the connected services systems.Similarly, this has allowed the mobile computing devices, via mobileapplications, to display information about the fire alarm systems,receive local service data, including inspection results, servicenarrative information and/or service completion status for differentdistributed devices, and send the local service data to the connectedservices system. By facilitating communication between the controlpanels and mobile computing devices, and by collecting and storingdevice events and local service data, connected services systems havebeen used to facilitate service on fire alarm systems.

For example, typically, the fire alarm devices are periodically testedby technicians (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or annually depending on fireor building codes) to verify that the distributed devices are physicallysound, unaltered, working properly, not obstructed, properly labeled,and located in their assigned locations.

This testing of the distributed devices is often accomplished with awalkthrough test. During an inspection, the connected services systemreceives device events from the control panel, which originated from thedistributed device sand local service data from a mobile computingdevice, including inspection results. Illustrated by way of example,upon activation of a fire alarm device, the control panel receives asignal from the activated device. Event data are generated and sent tothe connected services system. The event data are stored and/or loggedby the connected services system and also sent to the mobile computingdevice in real-time. The on-site technician is able to view the eventdata and verify that the fire alarm device is physically sound,unaltered, working properly, and in its assigned location. The mobilecomputing device then sends local service data including inspectionresults to the connected services system, and the technician moves totest the next fire alarm device.

Typically, these buildings are equipped with wireless access points forproviding wireless connectivity between computing devices and a localarea or enterprise network. Some buildings will have wireless accesspoints for several different networks, administered by differententities. Wireless access points function by broadcasting and receivingradiofrequency (RF) signals to and from computing devices in thevicinity of the access point, and by acting as a relay between thecomputing devices and larger networks such as local area networks (LAN),enterprise networks and/or wide-area networks (WAN) such as theinternet. The strength of the RF signals decreases as the distancebetween the wireless access point and the computing device increases.Additionally, wireless access points normally broadcast locally uniqueidentifying information, such as a service set identifier, for example,to allow computing devices to detect, identify and connect to thewireless access points. Moreover, there may be other sources of RFsignals in and around buildings including Bluetooth devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain types of service for building management systems are mandated byregulations. Entities can be audited by local regulatory bodies in orderto verify that the services were completed. If the customer does nothave such verification, their business could be impacted and the servicecan be required to be repeated and verified.

At the same time entities performing the service often want confirmationthat the technician actually performed the service. Specifically, manytypes of service simply require the technician to observe the state of adevice. That is, the technician determines whether the device has beendamaged or covered over, is fully charged, and/or is located at itsassigned position. The service entity at some level has to trust thatthe technician actually performed this job.

It is desirable to have a system that can verify that techniciansproviding service were in the area of the devices needing service andactually remained in that area for a period of time consistent with thatgenerally required for designated service procedures, and record allrelevant service details. This allows the service entity to audit thetechnicians work.

According to the present invention, detailed installation and servicedata for a building management system is sent to a connected servicessystem. That data is collected with specificity regarding the type andlocation of device being serviced, such as installed, configured, testedor repaired, among other examples. After a sufficient amount of data iscollected, an accurate model will have been generated, via a predictiveanalysis process, for predicting how long certain services take toperform.

By combining the features of the connected services systems withinformation from ambient RF signal data, which includes identificationinformation of the wireless access points, for example, along withsignal strength information, from wireless access points at the buildingwhere the service is being performed, it is possible to provideverification and documentation of that service. The ambient RF signaldata can be used to prove that technicians were actually in the vicinityof the devices being serviced and also that the time that they spend inthe area is consistent with the model generated by the predictiveanalysis code. The ambient RF signal data will be logged for futurereference as further evidence that the work has actually been completed.

More particularly, the connected services systems would collect datarelated to the location of a technician (from a mobile computing devicesuch as a cell phone that is normally carried or a specialized devicethat the installer is required to wear or carry during a service visit)during the time that they are performing services. The mobile computingdevice detects and relays ambient RF signal data from various wirelessnetworks to the connected services system, which are then analyzed andcompared to ambient RF signal data previously detected from thelocations of devices that are being serviced or tested. For example, allof the fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in a building can bemapped by recording wireless signals from the WiFi networks that are intheir vicinity, including the signal strength from each WiFi network asdetected when a person is standing at the device. Therefore when serviceis provided later, and a technician records that they have serviced adevice, the connected services system can verify that they are actuallyin the relative vicinity of the device. This becomes part of theofficial record that can be reproduced if the building and/or inspectionare audited.

Additionally, ambient RF signal data can include relative differences insignal strength (rather than or in addition to the actual signalstrength), such that, as wireless transmitters age they do not need tobe re-mapped. This assumes that all transmitters age at approximatelythe same rate and that their signals degrade by a proportionate amount.

Another feature includes the ability to provide navigation informationrelevant to the service being performed in real time. The navigation caninclude information for nearby devices, location information and/ordirections to the devices, and/or alerts that the mobile computingdevice is near the device, among other examples. For example, theconnected services system can infer the location of the mobile computingdevice being used by the technician (or of an autonomous mobilecomputing device such as a robot performing service) based on theambient RF signal data and send navigation information for the devicesthat require service to the mobile computing device. For example, amobile application executing on the mobile computing device andcommunicating with the connected services system can also alert thetechnician when they are in the vicinity of a device requiring service.This is particularly useful if the device is not located in plain sight.In another example, a technician that is servicing one type of device(such as fire extinguishers) is alerted to the presence of other devicesthat are proximately located so that they can service the other deviceswhile they are in the area rather than coming back to them at a latertime.

As previously mentioned, this technique can also be used if testing isperformed by an autonomous mobile computing device such as a robot. Theautonomous mobile computing device would pass through the building on aroutine schedule to service the devices. The robot can be generallyguided by the navigation information based on the ambient RF signal dataand then use other methods to more finely to locate and service thedevice.

In general, according to one aspect, the invention features a servicemanagement system for facilitating testing of a building managementsystem. The service management system includes a service workflowmodule, a mobile computing device interface and a validation module. Theservice workflow module receives device events from the buildingmanagement system and local service data from mobile computing devicesand generates service events. The mobile computing device interfacereceives ambient radiofrequency signal data from the mobile computingdevices. The validation module analyzes the service events from theservice workflow module and the ambient radiofrequency signal data tovalidate the service on the building management system.

In embodiments, the validation module stores the ambient radiofrequencysignal data from the mobile computing devices, for example, in aconnected services database. The validation module determines whetherthe ambient radiofrequency signal data from the service is coherent withpreviously detected ambient radiofrequency signal data by comparingsource identifiers (such as SSID's) for radio frequency signals andsignal strength of those radio frequency signals. The ambientradiofrequency signal data includes data from detected WiFi signals,global navigation satellite system signals, Bluetooth signals, and soon. The service workflow module also generates inferred locations of themobile computing devices based on the ambient radiofrequency signal datareceived from the mobile computing devices and sends alerts andnavigation information to the mobile computing devices based on theinferred locations.

In general, according to another aspect, the invention features a methodfor facilitating testing of a building management system. Device eventsfrom the building management system and local service data from mobilecomputing devices are received, and service events are generated. Inaddition, ambient radiofrequency signal data from the mobile computingdevices are received. The service events and the ambient radio frequencysignal data are then analyzed to validate the service on the buildingmanagement system.

In general, according to still another aspect, the invention features asystem for testing of a building management system. The system includesmobile computing devices, which detect ambient radiofrequency signaldata and a connected services system that utilizes the ambientradiofrequency signal data.

The above and other features of the invention including various noveldetails of construction and combinations of parts, and other advantages,will now be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will beunderstood that the particular method and device embodying the inventionare shown by way of illustration and not as a limitation of theinvention. The principles and features of this invention may be employedin various and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings, reference characters refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarilyto scale; emphasis has instead been placed upon illustrating theprinciples of the invention. Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a service management system accordingto an embodiment of the current invention;

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which thevalidation module accumulates ambient radiofrequency signal data duringservice on the building management system;

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which thevalidation module validates service on the building management system;and

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which theservice workflow module provides navigation information to the mobilecomputing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrativeembodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. Further, the singular formsand the articles “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be furtherunderstood that the terms: includes, comprises, including and/orcomprising, when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof. Further, it will be understood that when anelement, including component or subsystem, is referred to and/or shownas being connected or coupled to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a service management system accordingto an embodiment of the current invention.

The service management system includes a connected services system 102,which, at a high level, communicates with building management systemsinstalled within buildings 103 of various client entities, typically.Examples of client entities include residential, commercial, orgovernmental companies or agencies. Examples of the buildings includeoffices, hospitals, warehouses, retail establishments, shopping malls,schools, multi-unit dwellings, government buildings, or casinos, to lista few examples.

In general, the building management systems include control panels 116and distributed devices 130. The control panels 116 direct the functionof the respective building management system by determining anddisplaying the operational status of or sensor data from the distributeddevices 130.

The distributed devices 130 are connected to their respective controlpanels 116 via safety and security wired and/or wireless networks 111 ofthe building 103. These networks 111 support data and/or analogcommunication between the distributed devices 130 and the respectivecontrol panels 116. In some embodiments (not illustrated), thedistributed devices 130 could all be connected to the same safety andsecurity network 111.

In the illustrated example, distributed devices 130 of the fire alarmsystem are connected to a fire alarm system control panel 116-1 viasafety and security network 111-1 and are slave devices of the panel.

The distributed fire alarm devices 130 include alarm initiation devicesincluding smoke detectors 130-2, 130-5, 130-9, 130-11, heat detectors130-8 and manually activated devices such as pull stations 130-7. Alarminitiation devices can also include devices that are not depicted in theillustrated example, including call points and carbon monoxidedetectors. The alarm initiation devices monitor the buildings forindicators of fire. Upon detection of indicators of fire, device signalsare sent from the alarm initiating devices to the control panel. Thedevice signals are typically alarm signals and/or analog values. Thealarm signals are used to signal the control panel 116-1 that a fire hasbeen detected. Alternatively, some devices provide analog values toindicate measured conditions. In one example, temperature sensorsprovide analog values for measured temperatures. In another example,smoke sensors provide analog values indicating smoke obscuration levels.The control panel 116-1 then determines if the analog values areindicative of a fire. Additionally, in some examples, the alarminitiation devices provide both alarm signals and analog values.

The distributed fire alarm devices 130 could further include firenotification devices (not illustrated), which notify occupants of thebuilding 103 of a potential fire and generally include speakers, horns,bell, chimes, light emitting diode (LED) reader boards, and/or flashinglights (e.g., strobes), to list a few examples. In response to detectionof indicators of fire, the fire alarm system control panel 116-1initiates an alarm state, which activates the fire notification devices.

Similar to the fire alarm system, distributed devices 130 of theintrusion system are connected to an intrusion system control panel116-2 via a second network 111-2.

The distributed intrusion devices 130 include devices for detecting thepresence of unauthorized individuals in the building 103, includingmotion detectors 130-1, 130-3, 130-10, 130-12 and other devices (notillustrated) such as security cameras, door and window relays andnetwork video recorders, among other examples. Upon detection of thepresence of unauthorized individuals, device signals are sent from themotion detectors 130-1, 130-3, 130-10, 130-12 to the intrusion controlpanel 116-2.

The present system can be extended to other types of building managementsystems. For example in another implementation the panel is a buildingautomation panel such as a panel that might control building climateincluding HVAC.

Typically, buildings 103 are equipped with wireless access points 120for providing wireless connectivity between computing devices and alocal area or enterprise network. Some buildings will have wirelessaccess points 120 for several different networks, administered bydifferent entities. Wireless access points 120 function by broadcastingand receiving radiofrequency (RF) signals to and from computing devicesin the vicinity of the access point 120, and by acting as a relaybetween the computing devices and larger networks such as local areanetworks (LAN), enterprise networks and/or wide-area networks (WAN) suchas the internet.

In the illustrated example, a technician 150 holding a mobile computingdevice 152 is also shown. The technician 150 is an individual performingservice on the building management systems, including employees ofentities occupying the building 103, property managers, buildingmanagement system manufacturers and/or providers of service for buildingmanagement systems.

The mobile computing device 152 presents information about the buildingmanagement systems, receives local service data, including inspectionresults, service narrative information and/or service completion statusfor different devices, detects ambient RF signal data from wirelessaccess points 120 and records signal strength information for thesignals, and sends the local service data and ambient RF signal data andsignal strength information to the connected services system 102. In theillustrated example, the mobile computing device 152 is a smartphonedevice. Alternatively, the mobile computing device 152 could be a laptopcomputer, tablet computer, phablet computer (i.e., a mobile device thatis typically larger than a smart phone, but smaller than a tablet),smart watch, or specialized service and/or testing device to list a fewexamples. In an alternative embodiment (not illustrated), the mobilecomputing device 152 can be an autonomous mobile computing device suchas a robot.

Each of the fire alarm system control panel 116-1, intrusion systemcontrol panel 116-2, and mobile computing device 152, are connected tothe connected services system 102 via a leased data connection, privatenetwork and/or public network 114, such as the internet. In some cases,the control panels 116 have been given network connectivity tocommunicate with the connected services system 102; in other cases,testing computers connected to the control panels 116 function asgateways. The mobile computing device 152 connects to the public network114 via a wireless communication link 170 to a cellular radio tower 172of a mobile broadband or cellular network or public and/or private wireddata networks such as an enterprise network, Wi-Max, or Wi-Fi network,for example.

The connected services system 102 is typically implemented as a cloudsystem. It can be run on a proprietary cloud system or implemented onone of the popular cloud systems operated by vendors such as AlphabetInc., Amazon, Inc. (AWS), or Microsoft Corporation.

As a result, the connected services system 102 typically operates on aconnected services server system 104. In some cases, this server system104 is one or more dedicated servers. In other examples, they arevirtual servers.

The connected services server system 104 executes a number of separatemodules, including a service validation module 108 and a serviceworkflow module 110. Each of these modules is associated with separatetasks. In some cases, these modules are discrete modules or they arecombined with other modules into a unified code base. They can berunning on the same server or different servers, virtualized serversystem or a distributed computing system.

The service workflow module 110 functions as an application server thatcommunicates with the mobile computing device 152 operated by thetechnician 150. The service workflow module 110 provides the stepsnecessary for the technician 150 to service the building managementsystem. The service workflow module 110 further receives the localservice data provided by the technician 150 indicating that a particularpanel 116 or distributed device 130 of the building management systemhas been serviced. This local service data may further includeinspection results, narrative description from the technician describingthe state of a particular panel 116 or distributed device 130 adescription of its particular location, and/or notes concerning thatpanel or distributed device that might be useful for the next service.Further, the service workflow module 110 also receives device eventsfrom the particular panel 116 or distributed device 130 undergoingservice and combines the device events with the local service data andthen stores the resulting service events to a connected servicesdatabase 106 in connection with the particular service being carried outon the building management system.

Additionally, the service workflow module 110 receives ambientradiofrequency (RF) signal data detected by and sent from the mobilecomputing device 152. The ambient RF signal data includes identificationinformation of wireless transmitters along with signal strengthinformation, including relative differences in signal strength (ratherthan or in addition to the actual signal strengths of wireless signalsdetected). Sources of the ambient RF signal data detected by the mobilecomputing device 152 include wireless access points 120 throughout thebuilding 103, including third party wireless access points 120-4, whichare owned by separate entities than the occupants of or owner of thebuilding 103 and can even be located outside the building 103, Bluetoothand/or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmitters or beacons, andradiofrequency identification (ID) tags, among other examples. Inexamples, the ambient RF signal data originates from other mobilecomputing devices, wireless transmitters attached to or integral withdistributed devices 130 and/or artificially distributed wirelesstransmitters. The mobile computing devices 152 detect the ambient RFsignal data from the location of a distributed device 130 or controlpanel 116 being serviced and sends the ambient RF signal data to theservice workflow module 110 associated with a device identification (ID)for the device that was serviced from the location from which theambient RF signal data was detected.

Another source of ambient RF signals could be the distributed devicesthemselves. In some systems, the distributed devices communicate withtheir control panel via wireless links. Often, the devices arebattery-operated and implement low power RF communication links. Whilethe communication over these links is typically infrequent, in order toconserve power, RF communications can nevertheless be captured andrecorded along with the device IDs that are typically incorporated inthese broadcasts from the distributed devices.

In this way, the service workflow module 110 maintains “device RFfingerprints” for each distributed device 130 and control panel 116. Thedevice fingerprint is an array of sources of ambient RF signal data,distinguished by identification information for the various sources ofthe signals (such as wireless access points 120), with signal strengthinformation associated with the signals detected. The ambient RF signaldata detected in the vicinity of each distributed device 130 and/orcontrol panel 116 includes a unique combination of sources of wirelesssignals and signal strengths.

The service workflow module 110 also generates navigation informationbased on the ambient RF signal data. The navigation information caninclude device information for nearby devices, location informationand/or directions to the devices to be displayed and/or interpreted bythe mobile computing device 152, and/or alerts that the mobile computingdevice is near the device, among other examples. The service workflowmodule 110 infers the current location of the technician 150 based onthe ambient RF signal data and pushes the navigation information and/ornext device or devices to be serviced to the mobile computing device 152to be indicated by a graphical user interface (GUI) of the mobilecomputing device 152 or to be used to navigate by an autonomous mobilecomputing device 152 such as a robot.

The connected services database 106 provides customer specificinstallation information to the service workflow module 110. Inparticular, the connected services database 106 includes lists ofcontrol panels 116 installed at various customer premises, thedistributed devices 130 maintained by those panels, and historical testdata associated with those panels and distributed devices.

The connected services system 102 also includes a building managementsystem interface 112 and a mobile computing device interface 115.

The building management system interface 112 operates as the interfacebetween the service workflow module 110 and the particular control panel116 undergoing service. In particular, the building management systeminterface 112 converts instructions from the service workflow module 110into instructions that are formatted into the protocol implemented bythe particular panel. Additionally, the building management systeminterface 112 receives information such as device events from thecurrent control panel 116 or distributed device 130 under service andconverts those device events into a uniform format that can be consumedby the service workflow module 110, regardless of the underlyingprotocol implemented by the panels and distributed devices.

The mobile computing device interface 115 operates as an interfacebetween the service workflow module 110 and mobile computing devices 152used by technicians 150 performing the service. In particular, themobile computing device interface 115 puts the ambient RF signal datainto a uniform format that can be consumed by the service workflowmodule 110 and/or the service validation module 108.

The service validation module 108 communicates with the service workflowmodule 110 in order to validate service being performed on the buildingmanagement system undergoing service. In particular, the servicevalidation module 108 receives service events, including real timeservice information from the service workflow module 110 or possiblyhistorical service information. Along with the service events, theservice validation module 108 also receives ambient RF signal data anddevice IDs associated with the ambient RF signal data and stores thisdata for future use. In this way, the validation module 108 maintains anambient RF signal data fingerprint based on previously detected ambientRF signal data for devices being serviced. The validation module 108 canfurther determine how long particular types of service will typicallytake based on how long the ambient RF signal data indicates thetechnician 150 was in the vicinity of the device being serviced. Whenenough ambient RF signal data has been received over time, the servicevalidation module 108 further compares the service events, including thetime at which the service events were generated, and the ambient RFsignal data and device IDs, to the ambient RF signal data fingerprintsfor the same devices to ensure coherency.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which thevalidation module 108 accumulates ambient RF signal data such as duringservice on the building management system.

In step 200, the service workflow module sends the distributed devices130 and/or control panels 116 to be serviced to the mobile computingdevice 152, which displays them to the technician 150 in step 202.

In step 204, the technician 150 approaches a device and selects thedevice using the mobile computing device 152 in step 206. In theillustrated example, the technician 150 approaches a distributed device130. However, in another example, the technician could approach andselect a control panel 116.

In step 208, the mobile computing device detects and records the ambientRE signal data from the current location of the mobile computing device150, which is assumed to be the location of the distributed device 130.The ambient RF signal data is detected and recorded for the duration ofthe service on the selected device and originates from wireless accesspoints 120 and/or other wireless transmitters that are in the vicinityof the mobile computing device 152 at the time.

In step 210, the technician 150 performs the service, for example, byapplying smoke to a smoke detector in order to test it.

In response, in step 212, the distributed device 130 sends sensorvalues/alarm state signals to the control panel 116, which generatesdevice events (which can include the sensor values or alarm statesignals and time information, for example) and sends the device eventsto the service workflow module 110 in step 214.

In step 216, the technician 150 also inputs local service data to themobile computing device 152. The local service data, ambient RF signaldata and associated device ID's for serviced devices are all sent fromthe mobile computing device 152 to the service workflow module 110 instep 218.

In step 220, the service workflow module 110 combines the local servicedata with the device events, resulting in service events, which arestored in the connected services database 106. A service report is alsogenerated.

In step 222, the ambient RF signal data and device ID's are sent to theservice validation module 108, where ambient RF signal data and/ordevice fingerprints based on the ambient RF signal data associated withthe device ID's are stored in step 224.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which thevalidation module 108 validates service on the building managementsystem.

Steps 200 through 220 proceed as previously described.

Now, however, in step 300, the service events are sent to the validationmodule 108 along with the ambient RF signal data and device ID's.

The ambient RF signal data and/or device fingerprints based on theambient RF signal data associated with the device ID's are stored instep 224 as previously described.

In step 302, the service validation module 108 determines whether theservice events, device ID's and ambient RF signal data are coherent, forexample, by comparing the ambient RF signal data detected at the time ofservice of each distributed device 130 to the ambient RF signal datafingerprint based on the previously stored ambient RF signal data knownto have been detected from the location of the distributed device 130,and by confirming that the duration of the service indicated by theambient RF signal data matches the typical duration of service for thatservice type. Validation results are also generated.

In step 304, the service validation module 108 returns the validationresults to the service workflow module 110, which stores them andfinalizes the service report to include the validation results in step306. The validation results and the finalized report are retained asevidence that the service was completed, for example, in the case of anaudit.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process by which theservice workflow module 110 provides navigation information to themobile computing device 152.

In step 400, the mobile computing device 152, which can be a deviceoperated by a technician 150 or an autonomous device such as a robot,detects and records ambient RF signal data, which is then sent to theservice workflow module 110 in step 402.

In step 404, the service workflow module 110 infers the location of themobile computing device 152 based on the ambient RF signal data. In oneexample, this can be done by comparing the ambient RF signal data todevice fingerprints based on previously stored ambient RF signal dataand using a known location of a matching device as a baseline to performfurther calculations based on details of the ambient RF signal datareceived from the mobile computing device.

In step 406, devices requiring service and navigation information basedon the inferred location of the mobile computing device 152 arereturned.

In step 408, the mobile computing device 152 approaches the devices tobe serviced using the navigation information, and the service isperformed.

In one example, the navigation information is displayed by the mobilecomputing device 152 to the technician 150 carrying the mobile computingdevice 152, and the technician uses the navigation information toapproach the next device to be serviced.

In another example, the mobile computing device 152 is an autonomousdevice such as a robot, and the navigation information is interpreted bythe mobile computing device 152 which approaches the next device to beserviced independently.

In another example, the mobile computing device 152 alerts thetechnician 150 (e.g. by playing an alarm sound, vibrating, or displayinga message), when the technician 150 is inferred to be in the vicinity ofa device requiring service.

In another example, the mobile computing device 152 alerts thetechnician 150 when the technician 150 is servicing one type of device(such as fire extinguishers), and there are devices of other types (suchas smoke detectors or control panels) determined to be in the vicinityof the inferred location of the technician 150.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreferences to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the scope of the inventionencompassed by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A service management system for facilitatingtesting of a building management system, comprising: a service workflowmodule for receiving device events from the building management systemand local service data from mobile computing devices and generatingservice events; a mobile computing device interface for receivingambient radiofrequency signal data from the mobile computing devices;and a validation module for analyzing the service events from theservice workflow module and the ambient radiofrequency signal data tovalidate service on the building management system, wherein thevalidation module determines whether ambient radiofrequency signal datadetected during the service is coherent with previously detected ambientradiofrequency signal data by comparing source identifiers for radiofrequency signals and signal strength of those radio frequency signals.2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the validation modulestores the ambient radiofrequency signal data from the mobile computingdevices.
 3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ambientradiofrequency signal data includes data from detected WiFi signals. 4.The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ambient radiofrequencysignal data includes data from detected global navigation satellitesystem signals.
 5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ambientradiofrequency signal data includes data from detected Bluetoothsignals.
 6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the workflowmodule generates inferred locations of the mobile computing devicesbased on the ambient radiofrequency signal data received from the mobilecomputing devices.
 7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein theworkflow module sends alerts to the mobile computing devices based onthe inferred locations.
 8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein theworkflow module sends navigation information to the mobile computingdevices based on the inferred locations.
 9. A method for facilitatingtesting of a building management system, comprising: receiving deviceevents from the building management system and local service data frommobile computing devices, and generating service events; and receivingambient radiofrequency signal data from the mobile computing devices andanalyzing the service events and the ambient radio frequency signal datato validate service on the building management system; and validatingthe service on the building management system by determining whetherambient radiofrequency signal data detected during the service iscoherent with previously detected ambient radiofrequency signal data bycomparing source identifiers for radio frequency signals and signalstrength of those radio frequency signals.
 10. The method as claimed inclaim 9, further comprising storing the ambient radiofrequency signaldata from the mobile computing devices.
 11. The method as claimed inclaim 9, wherein the ambient radiofrequency signal data includes datafrom detected WiFi signals.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 9,wherein the ambient radiofrequency signal data includes data fromdetected global navigation satellite system signals.
 13. The method asclaimed in claim 9, wherein the ambient radiofrequency signal dataincludes data from detected Bluetooth signals.
 14. The method as claimedin claim 9, further comprising generating inferred locations of themobile computing devices based on the ambient radiofrequency signal datareceived from the mobile computing devices.
 15. The method as claimed inclaim 14, further comprising sending alerts to the mobile computingdevices based on the inferred locations.
 16. The method as claimed inclaim 14, further comprising sending navigation information to themobile computing devices based on the inferred locations.